Introduction

Technological advancements have impacted our lives over the years. Things that we viewed as science fiction in the past such as robots and supercomputers have come to reality. One such technology, artificial intelligence, have changed our lives tremendously. In fact, AI & ML are the buzzwords at the moment and are slowly becoming the norm in a lot of sectors such as healthcare, defence and security, retail logistics and automotive. However, the benefits of these technologies are not reserved only for the private sector. Governments are also trying hard to incorporate this technology into their functioning so as to deliver services efficiently. However, such transformation is based upon creating and setting up the right tools and operating environment. In this report, Oxford Insights examines how ready is a given government to implement AI in the delivery of public services to their citizens. The report which has been published in 2021 examines 42 indicators across 10 dimensions. For this, the world has been split into 9 regions and for each region one country has been highlighted who has excelled in AI development and implementations.

The report reveals that the US tops the global ranking followed by Singapore, UK, Finland and Netherlands. An interesting finding is that 30% of the countries included in the rankings have a national AI strategy with another 9% in the process of drafting one. In fact, most of the countries are making advancements in cybersecurity and data protection legislation as well. Apart from this, the number of private companies that are using AI have also increased over time and can be expected to help the government with their expertise in improving public service delivery. However, another point that strikes out is that the index also clearly indicates inter-regional and intra-regional inequalities where there is a stark difference between AI adoption in the Western countries as compared to its Sub-Saharan counterparts.

Relevance of the Report

The report answers the key question on how ready is a given government to implement AI in the delivery of public services to their citizens and gives a clear ranking of the countries in terms of their readiness for adoption. A quick glance at the rankings reveal where each country ranks and how it fares as compared to other countries in the same region. Most importantly, a clear methodology has been described wherein the selection of various pillars has been described along with the rationale

Key Takeaways

• There is a continued proliferation of national AI strategies globally
• North America, comprising the US and Canada, is the highest ranked region in the 2021 Government AI Readiness Index
• Countries from Western Europe dominate the top places in the ranking mainly due to the strong political will of the government to harness the benefits of AI
• Though Eastern Europe scores above the global average, it is only Estonia and Czech Republic that stands out in the region
• Latin America and the Caribbean had the third lowest score globally after the Middle East & North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. The top four countries in the region are Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay